While in Battle Through the Heavens, one can pre-appoint oneself as an emperor.

As is well known, the Ancient Dragons of the Void can also be called Treasure-Seeking Dragons. Their sensitivity to rare and precious materials is beyond human imagination.

In the original timeline, the Little Dragon Man used this unique talent to help Xiao Yan many times.

Therefore, Chen Xiao could foresee that as long as Zi Yan was in the inner courtyard, it wouldn't be long before she would be able to detect the existence of the Earth Fire Lotus Seed.

As long as Zi Yan comes to his door, Chen Xiao has plenty of ways to get to know her.

Many people naively believe that Xiao Yan and Zi Yan became friends in the original story solely because Xiao Yan satisfied her appetite by using his alchemy skills to transform unpalatable medicinal herbs into delicious candy pills.

Undeniably, this is indeed one of the factors.

However, Chen Xiao felt that the real reason was that Zi Yan was too lonely in the inner courtyard and had no friends.

「炼製糖丸也没多大难度，那位白煞队队长的相好就是炼药师，我都把他给揍了，还抢光了火能，以炼药师的护短性子，没道理忍气吞声…」

Thinking about the troubles that might come knocking on his door, Chen Xiao smiled with satisfaction.

In that case, there's no need to go through the trouble of finding someone to make the sugar pills.

With a flick of her wrist, the note given to her by her mentor, Xiwen, appeared.

"Xi Ziliang, an elder of the arena, I don't know if he is a Battle King or a Battle Emperor, but in any case, he is more than capable of dealing with a fifth-order magical beast."

Muttering the information on the note to himself, Chen Xiao stood up and headed precisely to the arena.

Now that we've entered the inner courtyard, we naturally need to complete the follow-up work on the pre-requisite Earth Core Tempering Milk as soon as possible.

This is of utmost importance!

However, just as Chen Cang put away the Earth Fire Lotus Seed, a completely unfamiliar female voice suddenly rang out in the room.

"It's a pity the old man has been in seclusion for a long time. Don't waste your time. If you want to cause trouble for a fifth-tier magical beast, I can help you."

The sound from behind startled Chen Xiao, who was completely unprepared.

Turning around, he saw a girl dressed in a pure white dress, whose height only reached his chest. He didn't know when or how she had quietly slipped into his room.

The girl looked young, about the same age as Qinglin. She had long, light purple hair that reached her waist, and her cheeks were extremely fair and delicate, as if they could be broken with a touch. The phrase "exquisitely carved jade" would not be an exaggeration when describing her.

At this moment, the girl was holding a fresh, carrot-shaped herb in her fair right hand and eating it. Plenty of juice dripped from the end of the herb, leaving several conspicuous water stains on her pure white dress. Some juice fell onto the floor that Chen Xiao had just cleaned, splashing up droplets of water.

Seeing this, Chen Xiao opened his mouth, feeling like he had countless complaints to make, but for a moment he forgot where to begin.

Seeing Chen Xiao's hesitant expression, the girl put down the half-eaten herb and blinked her big, dark eyes at him.

"How about it? I'll help you fight that fifth-tier magical beast. In return, just give me that jade bottle you just put away."

She pretended to be serious, but this expression on her delicate and lovely face was like a snowflake drifting in spring, clearly out of place with the bright surroundings, yet adding a unique charm.

"First, clean up the mess, then go back and wash your face and change into clean clothes. Then we can talk business. I'll wait for you here."

Chen Xiao had considered that using the Earth Fire Lotus Seed to catch the Little Dragon Man might be successful, but he never expected her to appear so quickly.

So much so that he wasn't prepared for how to deal with it, and he immediately made an excuse to slightly adjust his strategy.

"Okay, then you wait here, don't run away!"

Under Chen Xiao's gaze, Zi Yan stretched out her right foot and stomped away the water stains on the ground, making Chen Xiao's pupils dilate.

With a cheerful reply, Zi Yan vanished from her spot in a flash.

They come without a trace and go without a trace!

The speed was so fast that Chen Xiao couldn't even catch it.

After getting up and wiping the floor clean, Chen Xiao had just sat down again when he was suddenly struck by a bright light as the girl in a brand new white dress reappeared.

There were still wet stains on her cheeks, clearly indicating that she had just wiped them with water to get by.

"Now we can talk, right? I'm warning you, don't try to fool me, or I'll get really rough!"

Without any hesitation, the girl sat down opposite Chen Xiao, raising her small, white fist in a threatening gesture, looking both cute and fierce.

Seeing Zi Yan's appearance, Chen Xiao gradually understood why, despite the large number of people in the inner courtyard and the abundance of alchemists, she remained all alone.

In interpersonal relationships, who starts by making threats?

If someone who doesn't understand this saw it, how could they not be afraid?

"Are you sure you can handle a fifth-tier magical beast?"

"I'm 100% sure. It's not like I haven't beaten up fifth-tier magical beasts before. I'm about 100% sure of them."

"Um?"

"One punch from me, and nine out of ten of them will be begging for mercy!"

Zi Yan was smug and extremely confident in her abilities.

If Su Qian hadn't forbidden her from attacking the students at will, she could have simply snatched the item directly, without going through all this trouble.

Chen Xiao pretended to think for a moment, then finally nodded.

"Okay, I'll trust you this once."

"Okay, trust me, I'll tell you where the monster is. Let's go right now!"

Zi Yan was decisive and didn't want to waste any time.

She had seen the Earth Fire Lotus Seeds; they were definitely a good thing, and one she had never tasted before. She couldn't wait to get her hands on them and try them.

Chen Xiao also wanted to complete the advance payment as soon as possible, and upon hearing Zi Yan's suggestion, he immediately agreed.

"I only know that the Snow Demon Ape is in the deep mountains behind the inner courtyard, but I don't know its exact location. I still need to go and find it."

"That's easy. As long as it's in the mountains, there's no monster I can't find. Let's go, let's finish this quickly!"

Without further hesitation, the two, led by Zi Yan, left the accommodation area and headed into the deep mountains behind it.

The scorching sun was blazing, and even in the afternoon, the heat was unbearable.

Chen Xiao slightly circulated his Dou Qi on his body, and in an instant, the air was refreshing, just like a walking human air conditioner.

Noticing that the temperature around him was cooler, Zi Yan slowed her pace slightly and moved a little closer.

Feeling the heatwave that was isolated from the outside world, Zi Yan chuckled, revealing two cute little tiger teeth.

"I didn't expect that you, with your ordinary strength, would possess such a useful ice attribute."

Enjoying the free air conditioning, Zi Yan took out the half-eaten medicinal herb from her storage ring and ate it as a treat.

Hearing her words, Chen Xiao was speechless for a moment.

By now, he had met many powerful figures, including Hai Bodong, Yun Yun, Queen Medusa, Vice Dean Hu Qian, Elder Su Qian, and so on.

Everyone looked up to him, but this little dragon man alone associated him with ordinary people.

Furthermore, this was the first time Chen Xiao had heard that ice attributes were so useful…

This girl has a really unique way of thinking!

"I remember that the medicinal herb *Euonymus alatus* contains a lot of energy, and it also has a bitter taste. Can you really handle eating it like this?"

The lotus fruit was the same carrot-shaped medicinal herb in her hand.

"I'm not human, I can definitely handle it. I want to grow up, and I'll eat them!" Zi Yan replied calmly.

As for the taste…

She also wanted to tell these medicinal herbs, "You all need to grow to taste better!"

Unfortunately, this was not something she could decide.

Chen Xiao knew Zi Yan's situation, so he didn't press her for details. He hesitated and said, "Why don't you give me the Earth Lotus Fruit? I'll try to make it taste better for you."

The girl stopped and looked up, her eyes filled with doubt.

She wasn't worried that Chen Xiao would cheat her out of the medicinal herbs. In this inner courtyard, she was always the one taking other people's share; no one had ever made her suffer a loss.

However, in her understanding, it seemed that only alchemists with fire attributes were capable of processing medicinal herbs.

Chen Xiao, this human-shaped air conditioner, is clearly of the ice attribute.

"I'll give it a try."

Seeing Chen Xiao speak again, Zi Yan didn't hesitate and immediately handed the half-eaten lotus fruit, which was covered in saliva, to Chen Xiao.

Chen Xiao took it, wiped the water stains off the surface, and then took out a cup from his storage ring and put it in.

Immediately, he used his fighting spirit to condense an ice pestle, quickly crushed the earth lotus fruit, turning it into half a large cup of pure, unadulterated juice, and then added some saccharin to it.

After a moment's thought, Chen Xiaoning conjured an ice mirror and, inspired by the Black Fiend Team captain, shaved some ice into the cup.

Thus, the first iced smoothie drink in the Dou Qi Continent was officially born!

Looking at his work, Chen Xiao nodded in satisfaction.

To be fair, while he couldn't extract the essence of medicinal herbs and remove the dross like an alchemist to make them easier for Zi Yan to absorb, he could still make some of the easier-to-process herbs taste better while maintaining their original efficacy.

As long as the mind does not slip, there are always more solutions than difficulties!

The ancients were right!

"Try it."

Resisting the urge to take a bite, Chen Xiao handed it to the dumbfounded girl.

"Okay."

Zi Yan took it and looked it up and down curiously. She had never thought of such a method before!

With anticipation, she took a small sip.

In an instant, a sweet and refreshing sensation spread from her mouth throughout her body, causing her slightly narrowed eyes to widen instantly.

"Delicious!"